We may only just have reached the end of one operating season but already thoughts are being turned towards 2016 with several heritage tramways having announced their first special events of the year. So if you want to start making your plans for 2016 read on but if you don’t even want to think about it yet feel free to completely ignore this article for now!
Starting off over on the Isle of Man – who are traditionally first out of the traps with announcing when their main events are taking place – and there are two special events to look forward. After the success of including the Manx Electric Railway in Rush Hour on the Railways this will be repeated again in 2016 between Friday 25th and Monday 28th March. At this stage full details of the when the MER will be involved have not yet been revealed but it is expected that at least one of the days will see an intensive service from Derby Castle. The other special event will be the annual Manx Heritage Transport Festival which will be on between Wednesday 27th and Sunday 31st July, again full details are awaited on what is planned for 2016.
Elsewhere on the Isle of Man it has been announced that there will be events to celebrate 140 years of the Douglas Horse Tramway but no details of dates or what will happen have yet been released into the public domain.
Back to the mainland and Beamish, Crich and Seaton have all released dates of some of their events for 2016. At Beamish the main focus of transport enthusiasts attention will of course be the Great North Steam Fair which next year will go under the banner of the Great War Steam Fair. As the name suggests the focus will be on the role of transport during the First World War with a series of vehicles which were in use up until 1918 playing a starring role between Thursday 7th and Sunday 10th April.
Events at the Crich Tramway Village have a familiar look to them with two 1940s events (Easter and August), an Edwardian weekend (July), Beside the Seaside (late May), a Model Tramway exhibition (August) and a couple of car rallies (May and September) amongst those events planned. In addition the main Enthusiast’s event will take place on Saturday 10th September (a week earlier than this year) although obviously it is far too early to say what is planned for this event as yet. In addition to these events it is planned to have more Horse Tram Days but these plans are still to be confirmed.
Down at Seaton it is only the regular events which have been confirmed with Bird Watching Trips, Drivers’ Eye Experience and the Dinosaur Train all returning for 2016. The monthly Explore Seaton Branch Line Tours will also be back for a second year following their popularity in 2015. Again further events are likely to be confirmed over the next few months.
This is just the start of the release of events for 2016 and the first few months of next year are expected to see a lot more special events confirmed. In the meantime all confirmed events that we are aware of so far have now been added to our Events Diary. If you know of any further events please let us know through the usual channels.
I for one(and mentioned by a few of my friends) was disappointed to have missed out on the Enthusiast day which if it had have been on Sat/Sun would have attended. Alot of other events including trains happen at that time of year meaning we cant be in 2/3 places in one/two days.